GP2 Series regular Stéphane Richelmi joined the Belgian Audi Club WRT team for the final rounds of the Blancpain Endurance Series at the Nurburgring this weekend.
He will also race in its sister championship, the Blancpain Sprint Series, later in the year.
Driving in the Audi R8 LMS Ultra, Richelmi partnered Jean-Luc Blanchemain and Christian Kelders for the 1000km race in the Pro-Am Cup category. He will contest the penultimate Sprint Series round at Zolder alongside GT veteran Stéphane Ortelli, before moving on to the Baku World Challenge finale in early November.
Richelmi has spent four years at the Formula Renault 3.5 / GP2 Series level, with the Monegasque racer switching to the Formula One support category at the tail end of 2011.
Having moved fro Trident to DAMS for the start of 2013, Richelmi’s form has been inconsistent at best, with the 24-year-old securing two podiums, before finally taking a Sprint Race win at Monaco earlier this year; however many of his other results have left him lingering toward the bottom end of the points finishes.
It has left Richelmi a distant 9th in the GP2 points standings, while teammate Jolyon Palmer leads the series. Despite this new deal with the WRT Team, Richelmi remains committed to the final pair of GP2 rounds in Russia and Abu Dhabi respectively.
With Formula One an unrealistic proposition, Richelmi is looking further afield in order to continue his career. “For the 2015 season, I am considering new opportunities. You must be able to launch new goals and this could be an interesting one,” said the DAMS racer.
He added, “I remain totally focussed on the end of the GP2 season, but with an eye toward the other doors that can be opened in front of me.”
